The 152-year-old mansion, on a block once known as “Millionaire’s Row,” housed prominent local families over the years before being converted into a rooming house and later a doctor’s office.

Now the long-vacant building at 130 N. Third St. is being prepared for its next reincarnation as a boutique hotel with 16 rooms, providing a small segment of guest rooms that city officials say are especially needed since the demolition of the Days Inn on South Third Street this year.

Restaurateur Mick Gjevukaj started construction on the $2 million boutique hotel last month. By spring, he says the 16-room hotel called Era will be finished.

“For the first time in years, it feels like the building can breathe again. I can see the building coming back to life,” Gjevukaj said of the property once owned by Grace Bixler, stepdaughter of Herman Simon. He owned the historic Simon Mansion — where Third Street Alliance is now located — a few doors down.

Gjevukaj and his architect, Jeffrey Martinson of The Martinson Group in Easton, recently shared renderings of what the finished hotel will look like.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / THE MORNING CALL

A rendering shows what "Era," a boutique hotel with 16 rooms at 130 N. Third St. in Easton, will look like when it is finished.

A rendering shows what "Era," a boutique hotel with 16 rooms at 130 N. Third St. in Easton, will look like when it is finished. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / THE MORNING CALL)

The original portion of the building dating to 1866 will be completely restored, including its grand wooden staircase and fireplaces framed by Mercer tiles.

Additions at the rear of the building that were added in 1925 are being demolished and replaced.

When it’s finished, the hotel will have three sections: The original portion; a middle section that will include the lobby area, and a rear section with rooms decorated in a modern style.

The original section will have eight rooms with historical elements such as dark wood trim and tiles with illustrations of birds and flowers.

The middle section above the lobby will have four rooms, with another four rooms in the rear section. There will be two suites in the historical section, and two suites with large corner windows in the rear section.

There will also be a sitting area in the back with mature trees and flower gardens to complement the ornate architecture of the Queen Anne-style Victorian.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / THE MORNING CALL

A rendering shows what "Era," a boutique hotel with 16 rooms at 130 N. Third St. in Easton, will look like when it is finished.

A rendering shows what "Era," a boutique hotel with 16 rooms at 130 N. Third St. in Easton, will look like when it is finished. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / THE MORNING CALL)

Gjevukaj estimates room rates will start at about $150 a night, up to $250 a night for a suite.

This won’t be a chain hotel. “It’s somewhere you go for a special occasion,” he said.

The project hasn’t been without difficulties.

Contractors recently removed a two-story garage from the property and decades of overgrowth, including an abundance of poison ivy that made the workers break out in rashes. The building was shuttered for so long, Gjevukaj said, workers had to initially wear masks to protect them from the musty interior.

Because the property is so narrow — about 30-feet wide by 250-feet long — workers have had to complete the demolition by hand to protect neighboring properties, he said.

In May, the city’s Zoning Hearing Board agreed to a parking variance for the project, but attached a condition that the developer must provide one off-street parking spot for each of the 16 guest rooms.

Gjevukaj plans to pave a three-spot lot at the rear of the building that will also serve as a drop-off point for guests and a service truck space for garbage and deliveries.

He said Friday he is still talking to neighboring property owners about leasing parking.

Under the city’s zoning law, the new hotel would be permitted to provide off-site, off-street spaces as long as they are within 600 feet of the building. Gjevukaj also has the option of providing valet parking within 850 feet.

Planning Commission member Robert Sun, who lives down the block from the Townley, said he is in favor of the project.

“I saw their plans and I am excited. This is a beautiful building and deserves to have new life breathed into it,” Sun recently said.

CHRISTINA TATU / THE MORNING CALL

The Townley Building in May 2018.

The Townley Building in May 2018. (CHRISTINA TATU / THE MORNING CALL)

Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said even if the boutique hotel is completed, Easton will need more hotel rooms. Panto wants to bring in a hotel with 60-70 rooms and a conference center to replace the 80 rooms that were lost with the demolition of the Days Inn.

Panto said the city has not received plans for another hotel at this point.